/ 7 



^K 






CHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 



.53 D^ 



A SERMON 



PRKACIIEI) AT TIIK 



Cousccnttion of St. loljii's Cljapel, ^okrt College, 



OCTOBER 29, 1863. 



BY TriE 



REV. MORGAN DIX, D. D., 

RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH, NEW YORK. 



WITH A PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF THE DESIGN OF THE CHAPLAINCY. 







^EW YORK 
EDWARD O. J E X K I X S , PRINTER, 
20 NORTH WILF^IAM STIIEKT. 
18G3. 



ml 



CHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 



A SERMON 



PRKACIIED AT THE 



(Jonscd'atioii of St. |oj)n's Cljainf, IJobavt College, 



OCTOBER 29, 1863. 



REV. MORGAN DIX, D. D., 

RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH, NEW YORK. 



WITH A PRELIMINARY STATEMENT OF THE DESIGN OF THE CHAPLAINCY. 



pi;blisih:d by request of the bo.\rd of tristees. 



KEW YORK: 
EDWARD O. JEXKIXS, PRINTER, 

20 NORTH WILLIAM STREET. 
1863. 



PREFATOEY NOTE. 



The subject of extinguishing the debt of the College, and 
enlarging its endowment, in order to increase the corps of 
professors, engaged the attention of the Board of Trustees at 
its annual meeting in June, 1858, and a committee was ap- 
pointed to devise measures for the attainment of these objects. 
Owing, however, to the state of the country, and to other 
temporary hinderances, nothing had been accomplished before 
the meeting of the Board at the time of the Medical Com- 
mencement in January, 1860. A new committee was then 
appointed, which promptly took the matter in hand, and pro- 
ceeded to arrange its plans. The first subscription came from 
a member of the committee, Mr. AVilliam B. Douglas, of 
Geneva, who ofifered to aid the general etfort by erecting, at 
his own cost, a suitable Chapel for the use of the College. 
Another member of the committee, Mr. John H. Swift, of 
New York, subscribed an endowment for a Chaplaincy. The 
views of the committee in regard to the place which the reli- 
gious element should occupy in a liberal education, are very 
clearly set forth in a Statement which they published in March, 
1860, an extract from which is given below. The objects 
aimed at by the gentlemen to whom the College is indebted 
for so great an increase of its means of religious training and 
power of sacred impression, are more particularly designated 
in the Statutes for the government of the Chaplaincy, framed 
by them and accepted by the Board of Trustees. The extract 
from these statutes which is given below will sufficiently in- 
dicate these objects. 

The Chaplaincy went into operation in the autumn of 1862, 



4 PREFATORY NOTE. 

with the Rev, Ilemy A. ITeely, lately the Eector of Christ 
Church, Rochester, as its first incumbent. The new Chapel 
has been in use only since the beginning of the present acad- 
emic year (Sept. lOth, 1863). It is still too soon to determine, 
experimentally, the full value of the Chapel-service as now 
conducted, or to place a just estimate on the influence of the 
Chaplaincy. But the whole tendency of the experiment is to 
powerfully second and confirm the subjoined estimate of their 
value. A very marked and noticeable harmony runs through 
the views of the committee, of the founders of the Chapel and 
Chaplaincy, and of the preacher at its consecration. It now 
remains for those who are charged with the realization of 
these views to cause this harmony to reappear and prolong 
itself in the practical working of a system so auspiciously 
begun. 

J, 

HoBART College, Nov. 2G, 18G3. 



EXTRACTS. 



[Extract from the Statement dated March, I860.] 

THE CHAPEL AND THE CHAPEL SERVICE. 

As a Church-College, the Chapel-Service lies at the heart of our 
whole system. It is here that the religious element must manifest 
its full power over the youth whose education has been entrusted to 
our care. The sacred truths of Christianity are indeed taught in 
every part of our course of study ; more especially in the depart- 
ments of Ethics and of the Evidences of Christianity is thorough 
and systematic instruction given on all the leading doctrines, as well 
as the positive grounds of our holy religion. The faith once delivered 
to the Saints is thus strongly impressed pn the minds of the students 
and they are at the same time furnished with decisive answers to the 
various objections of modern infidelity. But that which gives effi- 
ciency to the whole system is the daily service of the Chapel, This 
supplies the quickening, moulding element, which makes all the rest 
fruitful. Here, what has been learned as doctrine is reduced to prac- 
tice in the daily solemn worship of Almighty God. In confession of 
sin there is a constant recognition of our frail and fallen state ; while 
pardon and reconciliation are sought and proclaimed to the contrite 
heart through the atoning blood of Christ. Praise lifts the soul to 
God, in chant, and psalm, and hymn ; and prayer fixes it in com- 
munion with Him who is the fountain of light and life. The great 
leading facts of redemption are brought out to view, and are again 
and again impressed on the youthful mind by the ever-recurring and 
glorious circle of the Christian Year. 

The illuminating and sanctifying power of God's Holy Word, the 
teachings of his appointed ministers, in sermons and lectures espe- 
cially designed for students, and fitted to instruct, to warn, to arouse, 
and to win them to Christ and to the obedience of his Gospel — this 
whole service — this Common Praijer, repeated with general solemnity 
and earnestness, week-day and Sunday, will take hold of the inner 
life, and find its issue in pure and gentle influences, sweetly moulding 
the daily course of action, and gradually passing into the confirmed 
habits of a ripe Christian character. We do not say that all this 
will be always accomplished, or that it will be even in the majority 
of instances. But we are holding forth our ideal of what we ought 
to work towards — of what ought to be the place and influence of tho 



6^ EXTRACTS. 

religious element in a Church-College, and of what, by God's bless- 
ing, we can in a good degree attain to. Effects will be wrought by 
this system of religious training which will be felt through life. 
Very often, even when the student appears thoughtless and careless 
during much, perhaps the whole, of his stay in College, seeds of truth 
and love will, nevertheless, have been sown, which will germinate and 
bear fruit in more thoughtful years. 

The Chapel-Service forms a strong bond of union, and is a most 
important means of cultivating brotherly affection throughout the 
academic body. The Common Prayer is almost the only common 
ground in College life. In lectures, recitation, and recreation, all are 
dispersed in classes and companies. But here in the Chapel both 
officers and students come together twice each day ; they kneel 
together as the children of the same Heavenly Father ; they implore 
the forgiveness of the same sins, and ask for the supply of the same 
wants ; they give expression to a common faith and a common hope ; 
with one voice and heart they invoke the divine blessing alike on 
instructors and pupils, and on the institution which is dear to both. 
Let us make the Chapel and the Chapel-Service what they ought to 
be, and this will be the one sacred spot to which the thoughtful stu- 
dent will look back with the tenderest associations in after years. 

As an element of order too, pervading with a silent and persua- 
sive influence the whole College, it is difficult to over-estimate the 
value of a well arranged Liturgical daily service, performed with 
all the impressiveness and solemnity of which it is susceptible. It 
tends constantly to imbue the minds of the students with that quiet 
and orderly spirit which is so beautiful a characteristic of the 
Church. The tone and spirit of the service pass over into the life, 
and become therein a regulative force which reduces all to order and 
peace. 

We are anxious, therefore, so to arrange and order the Chapel- 
Service as to give to it the utmost solemnity, earnestness, and reality. 
And to further the attainment of this end, we propose to erect a new 
Chapel, such, for durability, architectural beauty, and fitness, as may 
serve for this sacred use in all time to come, and such as will aid us 
with all the impressiveness of effect which can be derived from a 
material temple skillfully planned, beautifully wrought, and duly 
consecrated to the service of Almighty God. And we are happy in 



EXTRACTS. 7 

being able to announce for the encouragement of those who will feel 
an interest in this movement, that a member of the Board of Trus- 
tees has offered as his contribution towards it, to build for the Col- 
lege such a Chapel as we have described, at his sole cost. 



THE CHAPLAIN. 

But this offer to build a Chapel is made on the express condition 
that a foundatiori for a Chaplaincy, equal in amount to a Professor- 
ship shall be secured. On this foundation a Chaplain is to be 
placed, who, in connection with such duties of instruction as Avill 
harmonize with his sacred office, shall devote himself exclusively to 
the religious training and culture of the undergraduates. He will 
officiate in the daily service of the Chapel. lie will be the College 
Preacher, And the College will form a congregation or parish of 
which he will be the Pastor. He will, of course, maintain order in 
his classes so far as he shall be an officer of instruction, but other- 
wise he will have nothing to do with the discipline of the institution. 
He w'ill thus be known to the students only as their Pastor and 
Teacher in things pertaining to God. There will be everything in 
his position to invite affection and confidence, and to draw into inti- 
mate relations. The influence of such an officer, standing in such 
relation to the students, and possessed of the requisite character and 
abilities lor his sacred office, must be great and salutary. For our 
own part we regard this Chaplaincy as of the very first importance 
to the complete development of the College as a seat of Christian 
learning. And it gives us sincere pleasure to be able to state that 
another member of the Board of Trustees has said, that he will try 
to do his part towards this effort in behalf of the College, by endow- 
ing the Chaplaincy. He is actuated in this by a high sense of the 
value of this particular department, when thus put in charge of an 
officer specially and exclusively devoted to its sacred duties, in giv- 
ing energy to the working of the religious element throughout the 
whole academic system. 



EXTKACTS, 



[^Extract from the Statutes goveriving the Ghaplaincy.] 

" The oi'iginal subscribers to en dow a Chaplaincy and to build a 
Chapel were moved thereto from having seen the peculiar dangers 
and temptations that attend young men on leaving their homes and. 
passing from under the watchful eyes of parents, or guardians and 
pastors, to enter upon life within the walls of a College ; and from 
having felt the need of more vigilant and loving pastoral care than 
is secured to students in our colleges, under the common systems that 
prevail. These considerations led them to attempt to secure to the 
members of Hobart College, for all future time, the presence and 
the influence of a Pastor, to be charged with the care of their souls, 
and, so far as may be, to supply, for the time being, the places of 
parents, or guardians and pastors, from whom they are separated ; 
who, being disconnected with the general enforcement of discipline, 
and from any considerable amount of mere academic instruction, 
should be free to train, guide, and influence the students in the 
principles of the Christian faith, and the practice of the Christian 
life, by systematic pulpit and class instruction, specially adapted to 
their minds, by a well ordered and reverent daily worship, accord- 
ing to the provisions of the Church in her Holy Liturgy, by assidu- 
ously cultivating with the members of the College those kindly rela- 
tions known to the loving Pastor, whereby he may often be enabled 
to win their affections, gain their confidence, and restrain many irreg- 
ularities of living incident to college life, and so not only benefit 
them, but the institution and all connected with it." 

The following notice of the consecration of the Chapel is taken 
from the Church Journal of Nov. 4, 1863, with slight correction : 

Messrs. Editors : — The Bishop of the Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Dr. 
DeLancey, consecrated St. John's Chapel, Hobart College, to the ser- 
vice and glory of Almighty God, on the 29th ult. The procession, con- 
sisting of twenty-three clergymen, in surplices, with the Bishop at its 
head, was formed at the college library. On reaching the porch of the 
new edifice it was received by the Board of Trustees. The twenty- 
fourth psalm was recited responsively by the Bishop and clergy as they 
moved up the alley. The Request to consecrate was placed in the 
Bishop's hands by Mr, D. S. Hall, the senior trustee present, and 
was read by the Rev. Henry A. Neely, Chaplain. The Sentence of 



EXTRACTS. 9' 

Ck»nsecratioii was read by the Rev. Dr. Jackson, President of the 
College. The Consecration service ended, Morning Prayer was be- 
gun by the Rev. Dr. Van Rensselaer, President of De Veaux Col- 
lege, The proper psalms were chanted antiphonally by the choir; 
the first lesson was read by the Rev. L. Ward Smith, of the Diocese 
of Pennsylvania ; the second by the Rev. J. M. Clarke, of Syracuse ; 
the Creed (Nicene) and Collects by the Rev. R. N. Parke, of Water- 
loo. The Ante-Communion was read by the Bishop, the Rev. 
Prof. Wilson, D. D., reading the Epistle, and the Rev. Prof. Met- 
calf, D. D., the Gospel. The sermon, from Psalm xxxvi. 9 — In 
Thy light shall we see light — was preached by the Rev. Morgan Dix, 
D. D., Rector of Tj-inity Church, New York. The sentences in the 
Offertory and the prayer for the Church Militant were read by the 
Rev. Dr. Payne, of the Diocese of New York. The Bishop was 
assisted in the Holy Communion by the Rev. Dr. Jackson and the 
Rev. H. A. Neely. The Rev. Dr. Schuyler, of Rochester, read the 
Post-Communion, the Bishop pronouncing the Benediction. 

The sermon, which we learn is to be published, was a noble effort 
of saci'ed oratory. The preacher struck the very key-note of those 
designs which seemed on that day to be crowned with success, in the 
completed Chapel and the present Chaplain. His fervid delivery 
showed how deeply he sympathized with the effort which is here being 
made to secure the most perfect union between religion and learning. 
Miiny earnest prayers, beside his own, ascended on that day for the 
entire success of the generous experiment. The Chaplaincy, which 
is an essential part of this scheme, was endowed by a wise and 
large-hearted layman of New York, a Vestryman of Trinity Church. 

The music on this occasion w\as rendered, as at the ordinary ser- 
vices of the College Chapel, by a double choir, chosen from the stu- 
dents. It was simple in its character, but appropriate and inspiring. 
The chants used were, for the Venite, Robinson in ¥J> ; Psalms, 
Arnold in Bb, Nares in A, and Folton in F; Jubilate, Turner in A. 
The Te Deum was Walter's in C, and the Sanctus a Gregorian from 
Walter's Manual. For the accompaniment, it is enough to say that 
Mr. W. H. Walter presided at the organ, and to him the members 
of the choir have expressed themselves as much indebted, both for 
valuable hints at rehearsal, and for skillful assistance in the service, 
K word ought here to be said concerning the new orjian of St. John's 



10 EXTRACTS. 

Chapel. It is an instrument of twelve stops, and two octaves of 
pedals, with reversed and extended action, built by Mr. J, G. Mark- 
love, of Utica, and is a masterpiece both in tone and workmanship. 
The cost of the instrument was $1,055, which sum was cheerfully 
contributed by churchmen of Buffalo, Syracuse, Auburn, and Geneva, 
and by the officers and students of the College. 

The Chapel, which is built of Waterloo limestone, is in the 
Second Pointed style. It is about 20x79, internal measurement, 
with a massive stone porch on the south side. There is also an am- 
ple robing-room in connection with the chancel, at the east end of the 
building. The side walls are appropriately buttressed ; from the 
top of the walls rises a steep and ornamented roof of red, green, and 
purple slates, the whole surmounted with a ridge crest of beautiful 
design. The interior arrangements are very complete and conveni- 
ent. The roof is open and richly moulded. The seats are arranged 
parallel with the side walls, and rise from the aisle. They will 
accommodate 250 students. All the furniture is of black walnut of 
appropriate design. The chapel is singularly effective in the moral 
impression which it is fitted to produce on all who enter it. The 
architects, Messrs. Upjohn & Son, are entitled to high praise for so 
beautiful a design. They have realized what Bishop Wilberforce, in 
his sermon at the consecration of the new chapel of Exeter College, 
Oxford, requires as the true ideal of such a holy temple: "It must 
be certain that it becomes us to make the College Chapel such in all 
its outward arrangements as will fit it to stamp its own impression 
on every mind. Its first a pect should speak its separation from the 
hall or the lecture room. It is provided for those in whom the force 
of association is even unusually strong ; and it should seek to seize, 
through that power, on the first thoughts of every one who enters it, 
and secure them for God." 

The stained glass, with which the windows throughout are glazed, 
was made by Henry Sharp, of Nevr York, and reflects great credit 
on his taste and skill. The chancel window in particular, is, for its 
size, one of the finest in the country. The figure of St. John in the 
central light is a masterpiece. It is not the least interesting circum- 
stance connected with the Chapel that it is the munificent gift of a 
single friend of the College. 

The Font, a singularly beautiful piece of carving in Caen-stone, is 



EXTRACTS. XI 

the gift of another friend. The Communion Service, of richly chased 
silver, by Cooper, of New York, is another gift. Still other gifts 
are the books for the altar, and the alms basins carved of black 
walnut. The eagle lectern, finely carved from black walnut, is a 
striking object. It serves both to read the Holy Scriptures and to 
preach from. 



0crmon 



AT THE CONSECEATIOX OF ST, JOHN'8 CHAPEL, HOBAPwT COLLEGE, GENEVA , 
OCTOBEK 29Tn, 18G3, BY THE REV. MORGAN DIX, D. D., 
EECTOE OF TRINITY CHURCII, NEW YORK. 



"We are assembled, beloved brethren in tlie Lord, to keep 
a feast of dedication. We are here to set apart from all 
unhallowed, worldly, and common nses, forever, a temple of 
God ; to light another lamp before the shrine of heavenly- 
intercession ; to consecrate a material house, that it be hence- 
forth a place for the Lord to dwell in by His Holy Spirit. 
Hither hath the Bishop summoned ns to assist at such an 
office ; and so, in answer to his call, are we here. 

But, beloved brethren, there are circumstances in this 
case which confer upon it a special and peculiar interest. 
This is the Chapel of a College. It is the place where prayer 
shall be made by those who are engaged in giving and 
receiving instruction in the arts and learning of the day. The 
Institution here existing is not altogether a secular one. It 
is, in some respects, above the age, and beyond it. For its 
founders held fast certain principles which the age does not 
receive; and in its very constitution there lives an element 
foreign to the spirit of these times. It is, avowedly, a Chris- 
tian College. Nay more; it is a College of the Episcopal 
Church, They who fill its chairs must be believers ; and 
they who are instructed within its walls are taught, not 
merely after the rudiments of the world, but with reference 
to ihe mind of Christ. There is a method here, over and 
above the way and method of the world. A recognition of 
Almighty God ; of the doctrines of redemption and grace ; 
of the positive institutions of Christianity ; a profession of the 



14 CONSECJRATION SERMON. 

perpetual Creeds, a reverence for the authority of the Church 
of God. It may be said of this University, that her founda- 
tions are upon the holy hills. That her corner-stone is laid 
upon the old Catholic :ba;sijs.i Hi may be inferred that, in 
every department, these profound relationships are, and will 
evermore be, borne in mind and held in view. Thus, if his- 
tory be taught here, it will be taught as the manifestation of 
the personal God, acting through the course and events of 
time. If Philosophy be taught, it will be as under correction 
from the divinely attested dogmas of Theology, If science be 
pursued, it will be in such a way as that materialistic tenden- 
cies shall be forestalled. If languages be studied, they will 
be recognized as the gift of God, and not the invention of 
men. Thus, in all things, this is, and is to be while time 
shall last and while its walls shall stand, a Christian College, 
a College of the Church of our love. But these rare features 
must have their visible expression. These root-ideas must be 
placed, in symbol, before the eyes of men. And that is done 
to-day. The sign is given at last. It is given in the dedica- 
tion of this Chapel ; in these sacred solemnities. Here is the 
place of the presence of God. Here is the shrine of the Spirit 
of Truth. Here is the ark in the midst of the camp. Here, 
in the circumference of these scholastic fields, is the candle- 
stick ; and hence the light is poured on all around. The sun 
is at last in the midst of your firmament. The centre of dll 
your system is marked and shown in outward, visible sign. 
This chapel is the key to all ; the explanation of all. Last in 
time, but in importance first. Only now finished. But such, 
that, until it was finished, nothing was finished, nothing 
was complete, nothing could have been complete. 

Holy, therefore, is this our work. And blessed are the 
hands that have reared this structure. And happy beyond 
all of us to-day is he whose heart God did move to make this 
offering and to build this house. And blessed in their own 
way are all who minister, this hour, before the Lord in the 
solemn acts and offices of consecration. With humble rever- 



CONSECRATION SERMON. 15 

ence and gratitude do we bear our part, as tliey wlio, in 
ancient times, brought forth the headstone of the temple with 
shoutings, crying grace, grace unto it. (Zech. iv. 7.) Yea, breth- 
ren, your Bishop is proclaiming, in this place, and in the 
execution of his office, Grace, Mercy, and Peace from God our 
Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is his to crown 
the work that went before. And now, if God's Word be true, 
the consecrating hands shall draw down largeness of bene- 
diction, and pour abroad, on all around, great influences and 
powers for good. 

My brethren, upon being invited to preach to you on this 
interesting occasion, it was a question much debated in my 
thoughts upon what topic to address you. But the quiet 
expectation of the scenes in the midst of which I find myself 
at present did, long ere this, induce to the selection of a sub- 
ject. In pleased forecasting of this day ; in the attempt to 
picture to himself a place, a scene, to which the passing hours 
were preparing for him an access, the preacher found himself 
led away towards wider prospects. All that is now before 
his eyes was foreseen. Your beautiful town, by its placid 
lake. Your college buildings, overshadowed by the ancient 
trees. The seat of learning, and the cradle of letters in this 
region. The good Bishop, so much beloved ; the brotherly 
clergy, the friendly people, assembling themselves together. 
In the midst, this fair Chapel, the reverend sanctuary, and 
the place where prayer is wont to be made ; the liturgy, the 
voices of praise and joy, the offices of our religion, the unison 
of the everlasting Creeds, the oblation at the altar. But it 
were not strange, if, in the endeavor to call up a scene like 
this before the time, a man should find his thoughts leading 
him away beyond the limits set at first. And thus it chanced 
with me. For, in thinking over these things, the particulars 
would seem to have enlarged themselves and multiplied. 
There came a widening and broadening on every side, until 
the narrower scene, on which the mental eye was fixed, had 
expanded into a suggestive vision of the world at large ; and 



16 CONSECEATIOISr SEEMON. 

the cliapel, even while the mind was trying to conjecture its 
shape, and size, and look, seemed to grow and^row, until in 
its place there arose, right stately in her grand proportions, 
the Church Catholic of the ages. So that involuntarily a 
parallel had been made. In your lands and fertile acres I 
saw an image of the wide world and all that is therein. 
Yonder academic halls became a representraent of that do- 
main, in which the intellect of man is ever busy in its own 
marvellous way. And the Chapel was a symbol of the 
mountain of the House of the Lord, standing in the midst, 
God's gift in the latter days to men. Thus the particulars 
had changed to universals ; and what is here presented 
seemed to be but in miniature, a reduction of far wider 
things ; a reflection of the grander ways of God's Providence 
in its relations to the whole race and family of man. 

And then, it was natural to think, that such as is the 
Chapel to your college, such is the Church to the Intellectual 
World : that such as these halls would be without the light 
of the Divine mind, such would be the intellectual world 
without revelation. And thus a subject came looming up 
before the thoughts. A subject too large to be handled in 
one sermon, A subject on which I shall say but a few 
words, and make a few suggestions, assured that they will be 
neither out of place on such an occasion as this, nor out of 
harmony with the bent of your thoughts today. 

My brethren, yve hold these propositions to be most true : 
that the human mind needs light for the right use and play 
of its energies ; that this light must come, not from within, 
but from without ; not from itself, but from God ; and that 
the Church is the reservoir and dispenser thereof. It is not 
proposed to speak at length in proof of these positions ; but 
since the very cause which has brought us hither argues your 
deep conviction of their truth, it shall be my office to re-affirm 
them, as though I spoke for you, to enunciate them as axioms, 
to state them frankly, to illustrate and enforce them as, in 
substance, the lesson of the day. % 



CONSECRATION SERMON. 17 

And, first, the mind has need of an atmosphere of light, 
for the right use and exercise of its powers. It nnist have a 
medium of vision, or ever it can see. And that medium, that 
atmosphere, is not the same as the mind which sees through 
it, nor can the mind supply such a medium unto itself. Con- 
sider the bodily eye. That organ is in itself complete : all 
things considered, it is perhaps the most wonderful tiling in 
the human frame. But, yet, it is useless until it have light. 
Made for the light, it is, without light, as though it were not. 
The light is not from the eye, nor is it a part of the eye, nor 
is it, in any wise, a power or a product of the organ which 
sees. But it is an outer medium, formed by the Ahnighty 
Creator, and poured around, to the end that the eye may be 
used. The supply of light is a condition to the availability 
of the eye. We think precisely thus of the intellect. That it 
is, in itself, an admirable work of God. But, yet, that it is 
helpless, and useless, and worthless, to any practical result, 
until it have a medium for the exercise of its j^owers. So 
that He who gave to man the mind and intellect, must also 
provide the atmosphere wherein to employ it; and that 
unless He do this there can be no true intellectual vision ; and 
that, if He had not done this for us, we should have been in 
darkness even until now. 

AVe, therefore, hold as entirely distinct the intellect, re- 
garded as a potential phenomenon, and that same intellect 
in operation in the midst of its proper light. The instrument 
may be used, even though there be no light, or a false light, 
or a dim and partial light, or a light of one's own kindling. 
But all such use is vain. Just as, in the darkness, the eye- 
ball may turn in its socket, and the lids may close and open, 
and the optic nerve may scintillate with imaginary im2)res- 
sions, and the pupil may dilate or contract with involuntary 
motion and tentative effort. But in each case the effort 
proves abortive, and the power is thrown away. What we 
mean to say is this : that although the reason may act, and 
act with vigor, and with mighty attempts, and with prolonged 



18 GONSECEATION SEEMON. 

and protracted force, yet all shall be to no purpose, except it 
act, and work, and strive, in that medium for which it was 
created. That medium is the light of God. And, therefore, 
is that light in some measure shed abroad w^herever the 
spirit of man is found alive, with its work before it, and with 
the hour of activity prescribed. 

The mind must have light, and that light must reach it, 
and be shed upon it, from without. "We infer this, first, from 
analogy. As to our physical existence, we are dependent 
beings. There is about us no sign of self-sufficiency. In 
every direction are we restrained by limits ; and all our life, 
and all our existence, in every particular, is contingent, vari- 
able, and finite. The fact will not be disputed, as touching 
our material existence : why then should any doubt that the 
same thing holds good with reference to our intellectual and 
spiritual state? May we not reason from the seen to the 
unseen ? From what we know of the body, may we not infer 
of the soul ? If, as to the whole order of this bodily life, we 
are dependent creatures ; if we bear upon our frames the 
stamp of inadequacy ; if we be so constituted as to need the 
perpetual stay of the hand and arm of the Most High : then 
might it be inferred, until the contrary could be shown, that 
this same weakness, inadequacy, dependence must be found 
in respect to the operations of the mind and spirit. But this 
inference does not remain an inference. If there can be, in a 
moral argument, the force of a demonstration, if there be 
compelling weight in universal experience, that inference must 
ascend to a certainty. Go and study the history of the hu- 
man mind. There have been times when, uncertain and 
doubtful, through the loss of light, it has bent itself to the 
earnest eftbrt to come, in the exercise of its own powers alone, 
at the knowledge of the truth. Read the works of those 
philosophers, as well of ancient as of modern time, who have 
taken in hand to learn, by reasoning alone, the nature of God, 
the nature of man, the duties and destiny of our race, the 
manner and results of human action. Precious are those 



CONSECRATION SERMON. 19 

volumes; nay, beyond price, since tbey prove the natural 
helplessness of the mind. For nothing could be more con- 
spicuous than the failure of all those investigations, and 
nothing more deplorable than the results which have ensued. 
The mind, unaided, is powerless before the problem of eternal 
truth. The history of intellectual i)hilosoi)hy in the past; 
the history of the variatious of popular religionism in the 
present, tell one and the same story. The old philosophers, 
having lost the primitive tradition, knew nut God. They 
thought to find Ilim by their own mental processes, by the 
way of argument and investigation. But the conclusions 
were as many and as diverse as the brains which drew them, 
and the results were utter skepticism in thought, and utter 
abandonment in morals. The moderns, having despised and 
rejected the truth as it was presented to them by the Holy 
Spirit through the Creeds of the Church, went a]x>ut to con- 
vince themselves, by their own subjective processes, what it 
might be reasonable to accept and believe : and the end has 
been reached in a looseness and vagueness of thought disas- 
trous to the proper use of the intellect ; in the adoption of 
changeful opinions in place of a positive religion ; in a wav- 
ering between the extremes of Materialism on the one hand 
and Spiritualism on the other, until that point has been 
reached at which the scene, intellectually and theologically, 
is one of vast and far-spread lawlessness, disorder, and con- 
fusion. 

Building, then, upon facts in the present and in the past, 
we reassert, without fear, our propositions : that the intellect 
is but an organ of vision ; that it is de23endent on external 
conditions for its value ; that without light it is useless ; and 
that it cannot furnish for itself the light which it requires. 
These are truths which men have not received. Their great 
mistake has been to confound the instrument with the condi- 
tions necessary to its exercise. They have thought of the 
mind as though it were complete, alone, for all its purposes ; 
they have looked on it as a principal instead of an accessory ; 



20 CONSECRATION SEEMON. 

they have made a Deity of that which is but a created thing. 
Tliey have forgotten the words, " In thy light shall we see 
light." They have forgotten, at once, those words, and Him 
to whom they refer. In idolizing a part, a function of this 
nature of ours, they have forgotten the God of that nature ; 
and in elevating a thing created, they have removed the 
Creator far away. And thus the mind has drifted slowly 
towards a general chaos and confusion, a state which it had 
reached in the days when the Gospel was first given to the 
world ; a state to which, in our time, it would unquestionably 
have relapsed ere now but for the presence and influence of 
the Catholic Church, the pillar and ground of the truth, the 
witness and keeper of the faith. 

For do not think, dear brethren, that this great subject is 
left in a loose and unpractical shape. On the contrary, it is 
presented with a rigid exactness which no art could improve. 
The light which the human mind requires, and without which 
it is and must be blind forever — that light is shed abroad 
from our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the agency of His Holy 
Spirit. He is the light, and the man that followeth Him 
shall not walk in darkness ; qui seqidtur Me noii ainbulat in 
tenehris. He is the Light of the World, in every sense in 
which that expression can be taken, not after the manner of 
a poetical thought, nor as though we dealt in figures of 
rhetoric ; but the Lord is truly, and practically, and positively 
the Light of Light to men. So that out of Him there can be 
no true knowledge, nor device, nor learning, nor wisdom. 
That is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh 
into this world. And then, lest we might wander, uncertain 
where to find Him, behold, His Church is set in the midst of 
the earth. Lest we should grope in the darkness, not know- 
ing where to find that fount of light at which our pale torches 
may be kindled, lo, the city set on a hill ! It is the function 
of the Church of Christ to show us perpetually of her Master. 
In her are we brought to communion with Him. In her 
sacramental institutions, all divine of origin, are we made the 



, CONSECRATION SERMON. 21 

members of Christ, enlightened by his neighborhood and 
presence, endued with His Holy Spirit, enriched with His 
heavenly grace. Christ is realized to us in His Church. Out 
of her He might have been to us no better than an abstrac- 
tion and a name. To whom shall we go for the right know- 
ledge of him, to whom, O Mother of Saints, O School of the 
Wise, but to thee ? We know, my brethren, that it is only 
the inflexible Creeds which, under Divine Providence, pre- 
serve in this world a fixed and positive conception of the God- 
head, and of Christ, and of the supernatural order on which 
we depend. Ye know how loose and vague is modern reli- 
gious thought, how crude are modern religious ideas, how 
wide are the variations of belief, how men glory in the boast 
of freedom to believe what they choose. Place yourselves 
face to face with the state of the world, and say what would 
become of the Faith as we have received it if the Creeds were 
taken away ? And where would the Creeds be if the Church 
had gone down ? Brethren, it is an assertion made under the 
strongest conviction of its truth, that nothing saves the Chris- 
tian Faith to-day but the calm, clear, and everlasting repeti- 
tion of the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds by believing and 
earnest men ; and that, if they were no more heard among us, 
a very short time would see the religious thought of the 
country dissolve and deliquesce into a mere slush of inane 
and useless opinions. 

The points of this brief statement, which it was desired to 
make, are as follows : 

1st. That the intellect of man needs light for the due dis- 
charge and exercise of its functions. 

2nd. That this light must come to it from without, and 
not in any wise from within. 

3d. That this light is, personally and practically, the Lord 
Jesus Christ. And 

4th. That He is shown to us, in that character, in the doc- 
trinal and theological system of His Church. 

And, having laid down these principles, let my remarks 



22 CONSECRATION SERMON. 

be drawn towards their conclusion, in the farther assertion, 
that these points and principles furnish the only logical expla- 
nation of the existence of a Church College. If these prin- 
ciples be admitted, then we must found and endow institutions 
like this ; we must — it is a solemn duty alike to man and to 
God. While, on the other hand, if these principles be denied, 
or any one of them, then does the mere existence of a College 
such as this involve an inconsistency and an absurdity. For 
consider, beloved brethren, and you, especially, matriculated 
students within yonder walls, why came you to them ? You 
did not come to learn theology. It is not a divinity school. 
You came to learn the arts, and sciences, philosophy, lan- 
guages, and letters. But yet you came to study them here, 
knowing that this institution has an essential element of reli- 
gion as its basis. Why should this be ? Why should it have 
come into the minds of men to found such an institution as 
this ? Why should it have seemed good to that Corporation 
far away, over which, in the order of God's Providence, I am 
the head, to have made a grant of money for the carrying out 
of this design ? Why should it have been determined by one 
servant of God now in his quiet grave to endow this institu- 
tion in a spirit of munificence which has attracted the atten- 
tion and admiration of the times in which we live ? There 
is an explanation of all this, and there is but one. The pro- 
found conviction that if man is to see light at all, he shall see 
it in the light of God. The settled assurance that the intel- 
lect needs to its well-being the divine illumination of the 
Holy Ghost. We hold, of any and of all the operations of 
the human mind the same that we hold of all human efforts, 
that, except they be sanctified and hallowed, they shall fail. 
You may study the arts and sciences, languages and letters, 
as long as you will ; you may become deeply versed in them, 
yet, unless your acquirements that way be prevaded and per- 
meated by the light that cometh from above, all this shall be 
to you but emptiness and vanity. Like Moses, you may be- 
come learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, yea, mighty 



CONSECRATION SERMON. 23 

in words and in deeds. But you shall be no more than a 
pagan if you stop with that. You must go up intg the 
Mount, and enter into the heavenly sanctuary, and take up 
thither what you have reeeived, before the glory shall gather 
into your countenance, and before you can dare to speak and 
think in the spirit of truth, and as a man of God. The doc- 
trine and devotion of the apostolic days are necessary to civili- 
zation and advancement. Without them the idea of progress 
is a delusion. The Church preserves them from age to age. 
Therefore is she here, founded in the midst of this continent. 
And therefore is the Chapel here in the midst of these clus- 
tered halls of learning. The logical solution of what you see 
is this: that knowledge without religion is ignorance, and 
that the key of knowledge is in the hands of her to whose first 
Apostles were given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

There are those among us who, in their poverty of thought, 
regard the Church of Christ as a mere aggregate of believers, 
as an accidental conglomeration of units, constituted merely 
by that cohesion. There are others who think of her as an 
institution of a quasi divine nature, but not as one by which 
men are to be moulded, but as though she had a mystic 
character, yet without any practical relation to the race. To 
such men the work done here must involve a fallacy. To 
such men, if they are profane as well as ignorant, it might 
become a jest or a reproach. Tliey cannot comprehend why 
we act as we do. They do not understand this linking to- 
gether of secular learning and of dogmatic religion. But we 
have our work before us, and that work must go on, whether 
a man will hear, or whether he will forbear. We must work 
in faith, in living faith, that our foot standeth right. In faith 
in the Church as the revealer of Christ, as the illuminator of 
the world, as having the glory of God, and her light like 
unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as 
crystal; as the conservative power in the state, though the 
state acknowledge her not ; as the kingdom of Gud, though 
sore, marred, and defaced ; as strong, albeit, to the carnal 



24 CONSECRATION SERMON. 

eye in ruins ; so strong, even in lier present weakness, that 
we trust her still, and triumph in the thought of all that she 
shall hereafter be, when it shall please the Lord to build up 
Zion, and when His glory shall appear. 

Teach, brethren, in her ways, after the analogy of the 
faith. Study, young men, as she enlightens you. Test by 
her creeds each floating doctrine of the day. Apply them, as 
a touchstone, to all the heresies of this age. Live in the 
Church, and, in her, near to Christ. Exemplify in your 
course the power of that Word wherein ye have been in- 
structed. So shall ye be aiding your generation, and helping 
to save this nation, if it can be saved. Let us spread through 
all our borders the name and Word of Christ, and this shall 
be of a truth good work for them that come after, and 
the people which shall be born shall praise the Lord. 



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